What Really Happened
by iamsheena
Summary: A strange retelling of what actually happened following that day at summer camp. Currently a oneshot, but will continue if it is requested!


**My brain is strange. And this is what happens. For it being a Digimon story, there isn't any actual Digimon or Digidestined. It's meant as a humourous thing rather than serious, so please keep that in mind. Although, all of the following could be the truth... of the fictional universe. Anyway, enjoy and review. If I receive requests, I'll be doing forthcoming chapters via Sora's POV and Tai's POV.**

* * *

I opened my eyes and had to blink a few times to focus them. My head was pounding and when I tried to move, pain shot through my body. But I had to move. I had to get up.

_Where am I?_ I wondered. I was so confused.

I struggled and was eventually able to sit up. I felt unsteady, like I would fall over if I was distracted by anything. The wherever-I-was was dark and large. I could see some distant blue lights glowing softly to my right; to my left, there was nothingness. I chose the lights.

_How did I get here?_

The last thing I could remember was being in the DigiWorld with the kids, Sora, and our friends – the other DigiDestined and their children. They took a picture and- then what? I sat for what I assume was a few more minutes, trying to figure out what came after the photo to no avail. Then I stood. And fell. My legs were so weak! I tried to gather my footing again. After multiple failed attempts, I could stand, if just barely. Walking was another task altogether. I resolved it to be impossible and decided instead to crawl and drag towards the lights. I was exhausted, though I couldn't say why. None of it made any sense whatsoever. I took several breaks whilst on my way to the lights.

After an insurmountable length of time, it finally became brighter. I saw a door and began to crawl towards that. Then:

"Yamato Ishida, please remain where you are."

I froze. Whose voice was that? It sounded like it had come over a PA system. "Hello?" I tried to say, but nothing came out. I realized then how dry my throat was. I decided to listen to the voice and sat against a wall that held the blue light. This decision was based primarily on my exhaustion and weakness, and the pain that was shooting through my body with every movement. I was then able to think more clearly about my body. In the soft light, I noticed that my wedding ring was gone. My fingers were also considerably skinnier than they had been… before. Whenever that was. I was skinnier too. Had I been starving? If I was, it hadn't been for long. I expected protruding bones of some sort, but no. I was just skinny. Not like I was during my astronaut training. My hair was different too. It was long now. Not short. What was going on?

The door opened suddenly. "Please come with me," said a strange voice. It was different from the one previously heard, but still made me nervous. And yet, I followed at a crawl – that is, until two figures came to either side of me and lifted me up to a walk. Though, my feet barely touched the ground and felt more like noodles than anything.

I couldn't see a thing. The halls were dark and I could have very well been going in a circle, but the beings (were they human? Digimon?) seemed to know what they were doing. And after some time, we stopped and they dropped me to the ground upon which I crumbled, my legs too weak to keep me standing upright. The figures began to walk away. Frustrated and getting angry, I called after them: "Hey! Where are you going? Where am I?" They continued to walk away, completely (and rudely) ignoring my questions, but another voice answered me.

"Matt?" the voice questioned, "i-is that you?"

Although slightly different than I remembered, I recognized the voice immediately. "Sora?! Where are you?" I listened and followed her voice.

I reached her in no time, despite my crawl, and embraced her. "The kids?" she asked.

I shook my head, "I don't know. I'm sure they're okay though." I hoped that offered her more solace than it did me. But before she could reply, there was an echo of a voice that was coming closer. The voice's owner was shouting and yelling – clearly struggling. The sound increased as the being drew nearer and it ended with a thud. The person was dropped on the ground and then resumed yelling. It dawned on me and I knew who the voice's owner was. Once he reached adulthood, his outbursts were few and far between, but every so often, he let loose and the result was his current state. It was my best friend from adolescence, Tai.

"Tai?" Sora called over his yelling. He stopped immediately, "Sora?"

"Tai!" she shouted. "Over here! It's Matt and I."

"Matt?!" Tai replied, following Sora's voice like I had. "Where are we?" he asked once we reached us.

"No idea," I replied. Before anything else could be said, bright – and I mean _bright_ – fluorescent lights were suddenly turned on, filling the large room with light and subsequently blinding the three of us. I could barely focus my eyes; they were so accustomed to the dark. I took my gaze from the floor when I was finally able to bare the light and saw five figures standing in front of myself, Sora, and Tai. They weren't human, that was certain. But they didn't look like any Digimon that I had seen before. It was a great possibility that I hadn't encountered all Digimon though, so it wasn't out of the question.

It was Tai who spoke first, "who are you? Where are we?!"

"We are Xenun," the one who appeared to be the leader said. "You are on our vessel, orbiting your planet that you call Earth."

"What are you talking about?!" shouted Tai. "You're telling me that this is a spaceship and you are – what? – aliens?!" He faced Sora and I, and continued: "did you hear them?" He laughed, but seemed more nervous than anything. And I knew how he felt. It seemed unlikely that we had been abducted by aliens – it was probably just some Digi trick – but the so-called 'Xenun' were very convincing.

"You are the aliens," another Xenun said. "This is _our_ ship."

"We have been using you and your friends in order to learn more about humans and this planet of yours," the leader said. "Seven years ago, you and your companions were visiting what you call a summer camp. We decided that the best way to learn about humans would be to study the neural synapses of your brain matter. So we took some of you from this camp, along with other humans around your world – to study."

Tai said nothing. Was this thing kidding?

"When you reached our ship," the Xenun continued, "we put you in a deep… sleep, so to speak. This allowed us to safely study your brain and insert a special-made microchip with the program that you call the 'Digital World'. We simply made the suggestion. Your brains are remarkably fragile and convincing you was easy. The interesting thing is that, your brains were able to create an entire world and story to go along with the suggestion. Your brain even managed to create humans and human personalities out of nothing!"

The three of us were silent. All I could think was, "seven years?" I was eleven when I first entered the Digital World… or the spaceship. I couldn't decipher which was the truth. Realistically, neither the Digital World nor alien abduction was very likely. But if that happened seven years ago, I would be eighteen right then. Eighteen? No, I was a musician. And an astronaut. I was successful with a wife and two children. I was in my forties. I lived a lifetime.

"I realize that this is confusing," the Xenun continued. "The remarkable thing about human brains is that they can change and fit any situation while you are in a sleeping state, but as soon as you wake up, this ability disappears almost altogether. Other subjects have experienced the same confusion. You must only think backwards from what you remember. Really think. Yamato Ishida, how did you become an astronaut? It was no doubt a childish fantasy, which is why you were able to become one… with your Digimon companion. But if you truly think about it, how did you get there? You certainly never went to school for it, nor did you go through any training. You simply found yourself on Mars. Impossible. No, you were here. And that was all in your mind. Yours was undoubtedly the most entertaining of all hallucinations," and then the alien laughed.

But she… or he…. It was right. I had no recollection of how I became an astronaut. I had no recollection of even going to high school, though I did remember the awful uniform. It hit be like a tonne of bricks. I was an eighteen-year-old alien abductee who spent his entire adolescence being tested and prodded by aliens. None of us could say anything for some time. Then I thought of something, "where are our friends? Where's my brother?"

"Well, regarding those in your grouping, that is, taken from that summer camp with you: Joe Kido has already been returned to Earth, as you will be shortly. Mimi Tachikawa, Koushiro Izumi, and Takeru Takaishi will remain in stasis until they too reach human-defined adulthood."

"What about my sister?!" Tai asked, alarmed.

"I am sure that you are referring to Hikari Yagami. She too will remain in stasis until she is eighteen."

"I don't think so! She's coming with us."

"You are in no condition to argue and your attempts are futile. You three will be returned to the summer camp from which we first acquired you, and you will be free to continue living your life like most humans do."

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked, "how can we live our lives as if nothing ever happened? Even if we can come to terms with our entire life being a lie, we have missed seven years of progression. Without an education, it is unlikely that we can get a decent job. And what about our parents? Are we supposed to just show up on their doorsteps after being gone for seven years?"

"Once you return to Earth, your next steps will be up to you. Perhaps see how Joe Kido was able to cope. Goodbye."

Before any of us could say another word, we were back on the lake by our summer camp from years ago, dazed and confused, and unsure of what to make of the whole situation.


End file.
